The 2018 World Cup will be the 21st World Cup and will take place in Russia in 2018. The tournament will include 31 nations and Russia. This will be the first time Russia hosts the tournament, as well as the first World Cup in Eastern Europe and the first World Cup held in more than one continent(Europe+Asia).

There is controversy about the distances, for instance Yekaterinburg is over 3000km from Kaliningrad and it would take days to cover that by car or train. During the Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, where fans had huge problems already, the longest distance was between Poznan and Donetsk and it is only about half that. Same goes for swings in temperature ranging from tropical to freezing.

The bidding procedure to host the 2018 World Cup began in January 2009, and national associations had until 2 February 2009 to register their interest. Initially, nine countries placed bids for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but Mexico later withdrew from proceedings, and Indonesia's bid was rejected by FIFA in February 2010 after the Indonesian government failed to submit a letter to support the bid. During the bidding process, the three remaining non-UEFA nations (Australia, Japan and the United States) gradually withdrew from the 2018 bids, and the UEFA nations were thus ruled out of the 2022 bid. As such, there were eventually four bids for the 2018 FIFA World Cup: England, Russia, Netherlands/Belgium and Spain/Portugal.

The 22 FIFA Executive Committee voted in December 2010 to select the hosts of both tournaments. Russia won the right to be the 2018 host in the second round of voting, while the Spain/Portugal bid came 2nd and that from Netherlands/Belgium 3rd. England's bid to host its second tournament fell in the first round.

All FIFA member associations, of which there are currently 209, are eligible to enter qualification. In September 2011 the FIFA Disciplinary Committee excluded Burma from qualification. However in November 2011 following an appeal from the Burmese Football Federation, Burma is now allowed to participate in the qualification. They have to play their home matches on neutral grounds(prolly in China).

In October 2011 Russia decreased number of stadium from 16 to 14. Construction of the proposed Podolsk stadium in Moscow was canceled and Spartak Stadium was chosen over Dinamo Stadium which will be constructed first.